When the Ford Alumni Center opens, it will be a place for former University of Oregon students to congregate and for prospective students to get to know the university. It will also be home to top-notch meeting spaces for the entire campus community.

But for the three Opsis Architecture principals, it is much more. The building represents a journey that started when they were students at the UO and comes full circle as they design the building’s interior space.

Alec Hosler, James Meyer and Jim Kalvelage studied architecture together, graduating from the UO in 1981. In the midst of a poor economy, the three went their separate ways.

“In this current economy, people often say it hasn’t been this bad since 1981,” said Meyer. “We were graduating in that economy and so we all moved to the East Coast to find jobs.”

They moved to Miami, Boston and New York, but the pull of the Northwest was too strong. During the next 10 to 15 years, they all moved to Portland, working at different firms.

“We got reacquainted, chatting more and more,” said Meyer. “Eventually we ended up working at the same firm and started talking about our emphasis and strengths as architects.”

The three started Opsis Architecture in 1999, focusing on themes such as collaboration and sustainability, which were part of the culture at the UO when they were students.

“The integrated design process was what we hoped to do. Design excellence is one of our core values. At UO, sustainability wasn’t at the compromise of design,” said Meyer. “There is a passion for what we do. We are not stylists. We are responsive to the site and context of a building.”

Being able to design the interior space of the new UO Alumni Center allowed the three alums to use their past to design a building of the future.

“There is an emphasis about the work environment. An emphasis in how the space is organized,” said Meyer. “We looked at how daylight comes into the building and how to create individual comfort, while finding new ways for departments to interface with one another.”

When the center opens in 2011, it will house the UO Alumni Association, the UO Foundation, , UO Office of Development, sections of Public and Government Affairs and the student orientation program. Groundbreaking will take place once all funding is secured.

The facility will be built on top of the underground parking structure adjacent to the new basketball arena. Construction will begin in February 2010.

Meyer said the building represents new progressive thinking about office environments where spaces have been created to maximize the opportunity for dialogue across typically segregated departments. The building includes a raised floor system that provides mechanical services, allowing each user to adjust their own space for heating and cooling comfort. This also results in substantial building energy savings. The building includes a mix of open offices that allow natural daylight and views to be maximized throughout the space.  In addition, shared spaces will include common employee areas for gathering and a wide range of conferencing spaces will be able to be reserved through electronic scheduling, allowing the facility to maximize use of the rooms.

In addition to the employee work space, the building will serve as a place for community members and alumni to attend events and learn more about the university. The first floor includes a ballroom and an interactive center that will tell the Oregon story.

The building represents a 21st century environment for how people work together and integrate with the pubic,” Meyer said. “But it has also been pretty special for us at Opsis, especially as alums to think about the Oregon brand and what it means to alumni and incoming students. It’s a complex institution and that’s why it’s a great institution.”

The UO will soon offer a Cinema Studies undergraduate degree, aimed at meeting student demand and the needs of an expanding, multimillion-dollar Oregon film and video industry. The major focuses on the study of moving image media, including film, television, video and other emerging digital forms, from the perspective of history, theory, aesthetics and production. The new program will include classes on media from around the world, including Japan, China, Russia, France, Italy and Latin America.

The interdisciplinary major will be the first to span the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), the School of Architecture and Allied Arts (AAA) and the School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC).

“It’s been the perfect storm of people collaborating on the major,” said Michael Aronson, UO associate professor of English, who has been instrumental in the development of the major.

The emphasis on international cinema, film and video production distinguishes the program from similar majors at other institutions in the Pacific Northwest and Northern California at a time when the Oregon film industry is growing fast, accounting for nearly 4,000 jobs and an output of half a billion dollars in 2005.

“There’s nothing like this between the Bay Area and Vancouver, British Columbia,” said Kathleen Karlyn, a UO associate professor of English who has been involved with the creation of the major since 2006. Karlyn also has been nominated as the program’s director.

UO’s Knight Library has provided space, IT support and funding for the new 22-workstation production lab and screening area. Specialized equipment, such as cameras, will be available specifically to majors through the library’s Media Services department. Additional start-up funding was provided by the College of Arts and Sciences. The intent is for the program to become self-sustaining as the base of declared majors grows.  Student demand is already high. Aronson currently is advising 30 students who are interested in the major.

The major officially begins during the Winter 2010 term. Many of the courses students will take already are in place, including documentary production from the SOJC, narrative analysis and development from CAS and time-based digital arts from AAA.

Students and faculty from four departments and institutes have descended on the City of Gresham to apply their collective abilities to assist the city become more sustainable. The program called, “Sustainable Cities Year – Gresham,” is led by the School of Architecture and Allied Arts’ Nico Larco, Robert Young and Marc Schlossberg.  This academic year, 250 UO students and 14 professors are collaborating with Gresham to further sustainable design and planning. The program provides students with real-world experience to apply their training and serve a city that is ready to transition to a more sustainable and accessible future.

“Real world projects like Sustainable Cities Year involve client interaction, political issues and other complex situations that are impossible to simulate and lead to a higher quality of work,” said Larco, professor of architecture and co-director for Sustainable Cities Initiative.

Sustainable Cities Initiative (SCI) is one of the five Big Ideas that are shaping the future academic priorities at UO.  Started at the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts, SCI now extends across disciplines into other schools and colleges on campus. The goal is to promote research, education, service and public outreach related to the development of sustainable cities.

The Gresham projects will be conceptual in principle, but the work will provide insight to the city for its future development.  Classes will analyze suburban development, possible designs and locations for future buildings, including a brownfield site, how to incorporate natural light into transit hubs and how to make schools more sustainable.  Gresham was selected for the first year of the program for its size and situation as a city in transition from a Portland commuter suburb to a city developing its own identity. The program will build from efforts already underway with the broad support of Gresham leaders.

“Every city is in transition now in terms of sustainability.  We no longer have the luxury of 50 years to get our act together and Gresham is moving forward in this process,” said Young, whose expertise is in Green Cities and environmental and economic policy and planning.

The curriculum, including 12 courses during fall term, integrates architecture and landscape architectural design, planning, ecology and public policy education to encourage an understanding of sustainability issues that cuts across disciplines. In addition, there may be courses in law and business as the program continues in winter and spring term.

Benefit-eligible faculty and staff members seeking development and training opportunities are encouraged to use SkillPort e-Learning, a powerful new resource offered by the UO’s Organizational Development and Training (ODT) office. SkillPort is a Web-based e-learning portal where users have round-the-clock access to a range of training resources at home, at work and on the road. Curricula on thousands of topics in the areas of business technology, information technology, and desktop and interactive media software are available in SkillPort.

Faculty members wanting to use SkillPort for developing instructional technology skills or for other purposes can log on to SkillPort from the Organizational Development and Training homepage at http://odt.uoregon.edu/. The login link is in the upper right corner of the page.

Benefit-eligible staff members undertaking work-related development and training should first partner with their supervisors to discuss professional goals, align those efforts with departmental goals and make written arrangements for release time to complete the agreed-upon learning experiences—at no cost to departments.

After making these arrangements, staff members can use SkillPort and its My Plan and My Progress features to track their training programs.

From SkillPort’s Welcome page, users can take a SkillPort Flash tour, browse the course catalog or use the Search window to identify specific areas for training. SkillPort resources, courses and tools are self-paced and self-directed.

Nargas Oskui, who manages the UO Libraries’ technology consulting services for UO faculty and staff at the Center for Media and Educational Technologies (CMET), says that SkillPort will be especially useful for faculty members looking to increase their effectiveness in using instructional technology in the classroom.

“The use of technology in instruction significantly enhances the engagement factor with students,” she said. “SkillPort allows educators to adapt to constantly evolving technology by offering just-in-time assistance with the latest software and learning tools.”

ODT Director Pam Farmer is offering the SkillPort resource to the UO to enhance the breadth and depth of professional development opportunities. Through this e-learning resource, faculty and staff can access more than 2,500 courses at times that are convenient for their schedules. “ODT and CMET are here to help faculty and staff get the best possible training,” Farmer said. “SkillPort provides a robust resource to help make that happen.”

For more information on SkillPort or other development and training opportunities, contact Farmer at 346-3208, pfarmer@uoregon.edu, or Oskui at 346-1688, not@uoregon.edu.

The department of architecture is sponsoring a series of advanced courses to educate students about the elements and issues involved in construction management.  The courses are made possible by a gift from Hoffman Construction. The first course of the series started this fall and is taught by adjunct instructor William G. Ramroth, Jr.

“I’m presenting to the students the multiple definitions of construction management, including the big-picture view which is managing the planning, design, and construction of building projects, “ said Ramroth. “Students will learn the various aspects of this profession and what is expected of an architect during construction.  In addition, they will learn about other career opportunities for architects in the field of construction management.”

Students will study Oregon building codes, learn how to certify a project to meet U.S. Green Building Council LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) requirements, and learn about the partnership between architects and construction companies including work planning, project scheduling, construction cost estimating, review of submittals, risk management and ethical conduct.

The university campus in Eugene affords a rich environment to study buildings under construction.  Currently, Hoffman Construction is building the new Matthew Knight arena, the below ground parking structure and the athletic academic learning center.  Completed projects include the Knight Law School and the Casonova Center’s expanded locker and weight room, medical treatment area and offices. Students will have hard hat tours to observe construction sites and will learn from construction managers at Hoffman Construction and Chambers Construction.

Bart Eberwein, vice president of Hoffman Construction, said he wants “to see that architecture students learn the importance of becoming a more informed member of the team when it comes to construction means and methods. It is important to foster teamwork in order to see great projects happen.  Both architects and construction firms do important, long-lasting work.”

John Willinsky, a visionary leader and author in the area of digital scholarship and open access, will give a talk entitled “Open Access to Knowledge and the Intellectual Properties of Learning” on Friday, Dec. 4, at 3 p.m. in Knight Library’s Browsing Room. A reception will follow.

With faculty appointments at both the Stanford School of Education and the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, Willinsky has been an innovator in the field of open access. As founder of the Public Knowledge Project, he developed the Open Journal Systems for serials publishing, and, more recently, the Open Monograph Press for book-length works. He was instrumental in convincing the Stanford School of Education to adopt an open access deposit mandate for all of its faculty members.

Willinsky describes his research as focusing on “analyzing and altering scholarly publishing practices to understand whether this body of knowledge might yet become more of a public resource for learning and deliberation.” He argues that the use of new publishing technologies and new economic models will improve access to scholarly work for the advancement of public knowledge.

Willinsky has written on such topics as Wikipedia and the effects of open access initiatives on public knowledge and academic scholarship. His most recent book, “The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship,” was published by MIT Press.

Sponsored by the UO Libraries, the Oregon Humanities Center and the Oregon State University Libraries, the lecture is part of the “Year of the Book” series at the UO.

For more information, contact JQ Johnson, Scholarly Communications, 346-1746, jqj@uoregon.edu.

First-Year Programs invites faculty members to submit proposals for Freshman Seminars and Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) for the 2010-11 academic year.

Freshman Seminars are small, interactive courses designed to introduce first-year students to thought-provoking and challenging subjects. Limited to 18-23 students, these three-credit seminars give freshmen a focused academic experience in an area of special interest to the faculty member. Past topics range from African spirituality through dance to economics and philanthropy in the U.S. Ten Freshman Seminars are taught each term.  For more information and the Freshman Seminar proposal form, visit http://firstyear.uoregon.edu/ or call 541-346-1136.  Proposals will be accepted through Jan. 11.

FIG instructors teach a one-credit College Connections seminar during fall term to a cohort of 25 students who are co-enrolled in two lecture classes.  The seminar is intended to explore related themes between the two classes and to connect freshmen to campus resources. Out-of-class activities, both social and academic, are encouraged.  Past activities include an archaeological dig on the Oregon coast, visits to museums and galleries in Portland, and a special viewing of the Eugene Symphony.  For more information and the FIG proposal form, visit http://firstyear.uoregon.edu/ or call 541-346-1241.  Proposals will be accepted through Jan. 29.

Who owns knowledge, and who has the right to profit from it?  Do printed books have a future in a digital world?

The legal battles surrounding Google Book Search raise basic questions about the digital future facing all of us—not just authors and publishers but ordinary readers and everyone concerned with access to information.  The digitization of libraries gives them an opportunity to democratize knowledge by opening their collections to the outside world. But how can they share their intellectual wealth when commercial firms want to market it? Harvard librarian Robert Darnton will give two public presentations of his lecture on this topic.

“Digitize, Democratize: Google, Libraries, and the Future of Books,” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 12, in room 175 of the Knight Law Center in and at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, in Portland at the White Stag Block. Darnton’s talk is sponsored by the Oregon Humanities Center.

Robert Darnton began his professional life as a journalist for the New York Times and later went on to earn a doctorate in history at Oxford University.  Darnton is now the Carl H. Pforzheimer University Professor and the director of the Harvard University Library. His forthcoming title, The Case for Books: Past, Present, and Future, is based on the premise that we can create “a digital republic of letters” if we learn how to “digitize and democratize.”

The lectures are free and open to the public and followed by book sales and signings. For more information, call 541-346-3934 or visit ohc.uoregon.edu.

The Creative Duck Department at the Campus Duck Store is offering a special discount for staff, faculty and graduate teaching fellows. Purchase one writing instrument, $4 and under, get a second writing instrument of equal or less value free. The offer is good though Nov. 30, by showing your university ID at the Creative Duck Customer Service Desk.
Limit is one free writing instrument per customer and may not be used in combination with other promotional offers or discounts.

Don’t forget to stop by the Campus Duck Store on Wednesday, Nov. 18 and Thursday, Nov. 19t between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. for the 28th Annual Tools of the Trade Show event. Enjoy door prizes, show specials, art demos and much more.

A new visual laboratory and classroom has opened in UO Portland’s White Stag Block. The space opened on Oct. 8, with a public reception for the “Inspiration China” exhibit.

The 1,500-square-foot visual laboratory will allow students and faculty to research, explore and present contemporary issues in art and design. It is open to the public from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.

“The White Box is a presentation studio, a classroom and a visual laboratory folded into one. It’s a multi-purpose educational space that was an important part of our planning at the White Stag Block from the beginning,” said Wendy Larson, vice provost of Portland programs. “We are excited to open the White Box, to connect with the creative community and to and invite the public to see our students’ imaginations at work.”

“Inspiration China,” displayed through Nov. 20, features pieces by UO digital arts students and alumni who were inspired by ancient Chinese artifacts from the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art’s (JSMA) extensive Asian collection. The curator of the show is John Jay, co-owner of Studio J and global creative director at Wieden + Kennedy.

A multimedia art piece was unveiled on Oct. 8 at the White Stag Block to honor the legacy of the Naito family in Old Town Chinatown. The piece, designed by UO students and advised by Second Story Interactive Studios, pays tribute to the Naito Family by showing how their developments shaped Portland’s historic Old Town. The piece will be permanently housed in the Skidmore Lobby.

Photo (left to right): Micki Naito; Erica Naito Campbell; Wendy Larson, vice provost for Portland Programs; Anne Naito Campbell; Art DeMuro, Venerable Properties president; and UO President Richard Lariviere.

The University of Oregon Libraries will help celebrate Open Access Week on the UO campus Oct. 19-23 by hosting a series of lectures, panel discussions, workshops and other activities on the topics of scholarly publishing and open access.

Open access is defined as the “worldwide electronic distribution of the peer-reviewed journal literature, with completely free and unrestricted access to it by all scientists, scholars, teachers, students, and other curious minds.” Open access shifts the costs of producing scholarship away from the reader, and by so doing makes it more likely that research results and scholarly works will be used as they are intended: to be read and cited.

During Open Access Week, UO faculty members and others can learn about a UO program sponsored by the UO Vice Provost’s office that underwrites publication fees for publishing in open access journals, and about commitments by several departments to make all of their scholarship open access. Other sessions will explore issues related to open access textbooks, open access to primary legal materials, and the UO’s own open access archive, Scholars’ Bank.

The complete schedule of events follows. All events will be held in Knight Library.

Monday, Oct. 19, 2:00 p.m., Studio A
Open Textbooks and Other Educational Resources

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 12:30 p.m., Room 144
Scholars’ Bank Hands-On Workshop

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 10:30 a.m., Rm. 115H
Panel on Open Access Mandates (w/Oregon State University)

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 1:00 p.m., Room 122
An Introduction to Open Access

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2:00 p.m., Room 122
Panel on Open Access Author Funding

Thursday, Oct. 22, 10:00 a.m., Studio A
Panel on Open Access Mandates

Thursday, Oct. 22, 11:30 a.m., Rm. 267B
How Do I Put My Work in Scholars’ Bank?

Friday, Oct. 23, 11:00 a.m., Studio A
Open Government, with Carl Malamud

For more information and a detailed program link, visit http://libweb.uoregon.edu/scis/sc/oaweek09.html or contact JQ Johnson, the library’s director of scholarly communications, jqj@uoregon.edu, 346-1746.

Over several centuries, very few human creations have shaped and reflected the course of history and culture as powerfully as has “the book” in its many and varied forms.

What began more than a year ago as an idea for a three-day symposium on “the future of the book” has blossomed into “The Year of the Book,” a campus-wide series of lectures, workshops, exhibits, and performances based on the book, past, present, and future. Organized by the Oregon Humanities Center in conjunction with the Knight Library, this year-long celebration of the book will involve many individual scholars and departments on campus including the UO Bookstore, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Theatre Arts, History, Creative Writing, English, and others.

“The plan is to reach as deep and broad a slice of campus as we can manage, and to appeal to the larger community, as well,” said OHC Director Barbara Altmann. “We have designed a logo that will go on all events tied to the theme, and there will be several events per term.”

The Oregon Humanities Center hopes to encourage participation in the “Year of the Book” by providing financial co-sponsorships to departments who wish to host related events, and by helping to publicize all “Year of the Book” events.

The OHC has planned many of its 2009-10 lectures to coincide with the “Year of the Book” theme. Kritikos Professor Robert Darnton will kick off the fall term with his Nov. 12 lecture entitled “Digitize, Democratize: Google, Libraries, and the Future of Books” at 7:30 p.m. in 175 Knight Law Center. The lecture will also be given at UO in Portland on Nov. 13 at 5:30 p.m.

Other fall term events include the “Understanding Superheroes” symposium on Oct. 23 and 24, and the related JSMA exhibits. The theater department is devoting their entire 2009-10 season to plays based on book adaptations. Their fall production, “Big River,” which runs Nov. 6-21, is a musical based on “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Creative writing is hosting readings by authors and poets throughout the year, and the UO Bookstore is organizing a film series based on book adaptations. Look for events in the coming months from the Knight Library, JSMA, Clark Honors College and community partners.

Visit http://ohc.uoregon.edu for a complete and ever-growing list of “Year of the Book” events.

The Literary Duck Department at the Campus Duck Store is offering a special discount for staff, faculty and graduate teaching fellows. Receive 25 percent off the purchase of Rob Moseley’s “What it Means to Be a Duck. The offer is good though Oct. 31, by showing your university ID at the Literary Duck Information Kiosk.

Limit is one copy per customer and may not be used in combination with other promotional offers or discounts.

To better convey the breadth of its mission, the Academic Learning Services has officially changed its name to the University Teaching and Learning Center (TLC).  The center provides programs, services and support that enhances the educational experience of both students and teaching faculty.

Programs offered by TLC include PathwayOregon, TRiO Student Support Services, McNair Scholars Program, Teaching Effectiveness Program and services such as tutoring, study skills resources, math and writing labs, and courses and test preparation.

TLC is located in 68 PLC. For more information, contact 346-3226 or visit http://tlc.uoregon.edu.

The Fall 2009 issue of Cascade, the alumni magazine for the College of Arts and Sciences, is now being distributed on campus. You can also view the digital edition at http://uoregon.journalgraphicsdigital.com/pubs/uoregon/cascade/fall2009/ or visit the Cascade web site at cascade.uoregon.edu.

Featured stories include:

“Generation Green”
ELP students prepare to walk the talk and carry UO’s environmental legacy into the future.

“The Life of the Mind in Troubled Times”
What is the value of the humanities in a precarious economy? Where do we place our priorities when times are tough?

“Pakistan in Crisis”
Faculty expert Anita Weiss warns that instability in Pakistan creates a huge opening for extremism in the region and puts the country’s political future — as well as its nuclear arsenal — at risk.

Plus news and highlights from the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.

For more information, contact Lisa Raleigh at cascade@uoregon.edu.

Work and Family Services has changed its name to Work/Life Resources, effective this month.  The human resources program is dedicated to helping individuals and departments effectively manage personal, family and community life with work and educational responsibilities. The new name more accurately describes the range of resources and services the program offers.

The program will continue under the direction of Karen Logvin, whose title has changed to director of Work/Life Resources.

A member of a delegation of Iraqi university deans and engineers signs a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Friday, Aug. 7, at the University of Oregon. The MOU, signed by President Richard Lariviere, encourages educational collaboration with 11 Iraqi universities through joint research opportunities and possible faculty and student exchanges.

The Iraqi delegation spent two weeks in Oregon to learn about green building, sustainable design and renewable energy from state officials, private companies and researchers at UO, Oregon State University and Portland State University.

Starting fall term, the Student Recreation Center will require users to swipe their hands instead of an ID card to enter the building or check out equipment.

The geometric hand recognition scan measures 90 points on an individual’s hand and converts the measurement into a number that is linked to the user’s ID number. The machine measures the hand for length, width, thickness and surface area. It does not take finger or palm prints and the scans cannot be converted from the number back into a model of the hand.

Numerous university rec centers have used this technology for years. Benefits of the system include increased ease of entering the building, greater access control and increased accuracy with equipment check out. This helps protect the integrity of the fee members pay by reducing access by non-paying individuals.

The hand recognition system will be installed in August. Members are encouraged to set up their scan before fall term starts. For more information, visit uorec.uoregon.edu.

The Classified Staff Training and Development Advisory Committee annually awards two or more classified employees the CSTDAC Scholarship. The purpose of the scholarship is to assist classified employees interested in professional development courses or learning goals. The training can be offered in the classroom, online or through distance education. The committee-inspired scholarship is funded through human resources and administered by CSTDAC.

This year the committee has $1,300 to distribute to classified employees. Scholarships are awarded in amounts of $500 or less and cannot exceed $500 per individual. The 2009-10 scholarship form is available on CSTDAC’s home page. Or contact CSTDAC via email, cstdac@uoregon.edu. The application deadline is Aug. 26. The recipients will be notified by Sept. 10.

To learn more about CSTDAC, the scholarship for classified staff, their events, current members, bi-monthly meetings, membership applications and governance document, visit CSTDAC.

After four months of cross-country visits from Kansas and introductory meetings with students, faculty, staff and others, Richard Lariviere officially became the president of the University of Oregon on Wednesday, July 1.

For his first day on the job, Lariviere arrived at 5:30 a.m. to learn from grounds keepers, food service employees, public safety officers and others what it takes to serve the community of 25,000 students, faculty, staff and visitors daily. He also toured the UO Institute of Molecular Biology where he met the university’s Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) students and faculty who are conducting life science research this summer.

The campus community, as well as many students and their parents attending IntroDUCKtion, welcomed Lariviere and his wife Jan with an afternoon ice cream social on the lawn in front of the Pioneer Mother. The day concluded with a pizza gathering with student leaders and others where the new president and his wife experienced their first taste of Eugene’s great local pizza.

Photos, video and updates of the first day can be found on the president’s office website, http://president.uoregon.edu.

In mid-June, UO President Richard Lariviere announced organizational changes and staff appointments.

Most notably, Jim Bean has agreed to continue permanently as senior vice president and provost. In addition, Charles Martinez, will report to Lariviere as the vice president for Institutional Equity and Diversity. Lariviere also appointed Michael Redding, previously vice president for University Advancement, as the chief of staff for the Office of President and vice president of University Relations.

University Relations includes units that were part of University Advancement, except Development. The University Relations unit includes the Alumni Association, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and Public and Government Affairs. Development will become a separate unit reporting directly to Lariviere. A national search for the vice president of Development will begin this summer with Provost Jim Bean leading the search.

Lariviere emphasized the university’s ability to support a clearly articulated academic vision, and its ability to continue to offer an outstanding educational experience in a unique learning environment, is dependent on our ability to successfully raise private support.

When visitors – whether prospective students or community members – come to campus for the first time, where should they start? The EMU? Oregon Hall? Hayward Field?

The university has long lacked that entry point to campus or a place to welcome visitors and provide information about our history, our programs and our future.

As the only Pac-10 school without an alumni center, the UO is in the design stage of creating a place to address those needs. The Cheryl Ramberg Ford & Allyn Ford Alumni Center will serve as the new gateway to campus.

Located above the Matthew Knight Arena parking structure, the alumni center will provide high-quality meeting and event space for campus, alumni and community use. Alongside the arena and the academic learning center, the new center will create a hub of activity on the east side of campus.

The 60,000-square-foot building will serve as the headquarters for daily tours and orientations for prospective students and parents. It will be critical in fostering important connections between the university and our friends and supporters. Amenities include the Lee Barlow Giustina Ballroom, a welcoming and interactive lobby and lounge, conference rooms and a board room.

While some funding is still needed, construction is scheduled to begin once the arena parking structure is complete and the alumni center is tentatively set to open in March 2011.